Bring Me to Life
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the locations and characters. They all belong to their respective owners.
Chapter Eleven: What's a little tension between friends?
Riku tossed the navigation gummi from hand to hand, deftly moving it away from Sora's hands every time he tried to grab it. Sora was making loud complains, but Riku wasn't paying attention to him. Sora would eventually give up after three or four swipes and return to the cockpit to aid Cid with the controls and baggage anyways.
"Hey Riku."
The silver-haired boy turned around, forcing a smile onto his face. Her voice, even now, made his insides ache. Kairi walked next to him and took the gummi out of his hands without any fight on his part. She examined it with detached interest, fingering the squishy substance.
"I wish it was still raining," she started, trying to work the staid Riku into a conversation.
"Why?" he asked, staring up at the cloudless sky. "The day seems fine to me." The temperature was in the mid eighties, making everyone break into an easy sweat. It was eleven o' clock in the morning, and the sun had been beating on them mercilessly for two hours as they prepared the ship for Squall's and Yuffie's departure.
"So Yuffie won't have to leave." She said it with a trace of sadness. 'Like you care,' Riku found himself thinking. He then mentally kicked himself for saying such things about her, even if she couldn't hear it. The only reason he was angry with her was because that she had chosen Sora over him, even though he had technically given her over to Sora in the end. He had expected some sort of struggle from her, but apparently not.
"Who the ninja? She'll be fine," Riku said rather gruffly, taking the gummi block out of Kairi's minute hands. "She has that…guy."
"Squall?" Kairi informed with a grin.
"Whatever. And stop smiling like that; you look like Sora." 'Actually, I want you to stop smiling completely.'
"Is that a compliment or not?"
A loud thumping noise was heard as Sora fell from the ship onto the ground, Goofy's and Donald's combined weight making his eyes close to popping out of his head.
"Compliment," Riku said with a laugh as Kairi slapped him, hurrying over to the dog pile. Once again without a person to speak to, Riku quieted himself and silently ruminated.
Frankly, he was jealous of Squall. He hadn't realized this at first, and when it had come up he had forced it to the back of his mind. But he couldn't ignore it now. The thought was weighing too heavily on his mind, and it would be foolish to ignore it.
Squall had many things that Riku longed for, even though Squall didn't show any sign that he acknowledged them. For one thing, there was his weapon. He was known for carrying the Gunblade, and there wasn't one person in Traverse Town that hadn't heard of him at least once. Riku, on the other hand, had no real weapon that he was accustomed to. First he had used a wooden sword, then the sword Maleficent had given him, then the Dark Keyblade, and now the Dream Sword, which was technically Mickey's. None of them were used for more than five battles, save for the wooden sword, which was used almost constantly due to Tidus and Sora's persistence.
Another reason that he was envious of the man was because he had freedom, something that Riku still sought. Squall was going to get to travel around the galaxy, even if it was for an important and life-threatening cause. But he would be free. He didn't have anyone telling him to do, or at least no one that Riku hadn't seen yet. But then, he also noticed that maybe Squall did need someone to tell him what to do at times, since when he didn't he seemed to turn into a total ass.
Lastly, was because of Yuffie. He didn't feel anything for the young ninja; it was what she felt for Squall that bothered him. Squall probably didn't care if she had a crush on him or not, but at least he had someone that liked him romantically. It was obvious that he was the first one she turned to for acceptance. Riku noticed that when they were younger, Kairi might have felt something for him, but as they got older she strayed from him and became instantly attached to the innocent and optimistic Sora. But it was better that way, he supposed. They were obviously made for each other, something that not even he could stop.
"RIKU!" Sora yelled as Riku threw the gummi into his opposite hand at last minute, noting that Sora had been moving toward him, thinking that he hadn't been paying attention. "I need that block so Cid can install it! It's the last thing we need to do! Come on!" Riku watched him pout and gave him a cool look. That look turned to one of pain as Sora forcefully kicked him in the shins.
"You…owww…." He said, handing the triumphant Sora the gummi. He ignored Sora's next words, bending down to rub his right shin. Whatever he was saying, it probably didn't hold much importance anyways.
Riku peered closely at the bruise. Sora was stronger than he thought. It felt like he had thrown a rock at it, something that had happened to him before. 'Oh great it's turning purple.' He would probably have a huge red bump on there in the morn-
"Are you even listening?" Sora asked with annoyance. Riku gave a calm 'no' and continued to rub his shin. Sora sighed and watched his ministrations for a few minutes, choosing until after Riku finally paid him mind and turned up to him expectantly to speak once more. "I said that Squall talked to me yesterday and told me about the Heartless that Sephiroth seemed to be controlling." Sora paused, noticing the evident shiver than ran down Riku's body at the mention of the Heartless. "So he told me that it's our job-you, I and Cloud- to watch out for Traverse Town and it's inhabitants."
"So the Heartless are back…" he murmured, trailing off. His insides shook with rage but he suppressed it with many years practice. "Who's Sephiroth?" Riku suddenly asked lamely, feeling extremely uninformed. He had never really bothered to ask about what had happened, since he had been too busy avoiding Sora and Kairi.
"Sephiroth? Umm…well he's this guy with silver hair…" Sora stopped and stared at Riku's own silver locks then to his impatient greenish-blue eyes, deciding that it would be harder to describe the general than he first thought. "And…he has this big sword called the Masamune…and he's…uhh…tall…"
"Sora," Riku interrupted him, making it obvious that Sora wasn't any help. "Just tell me who he is to us."
"Oh yeah..ok…well he's probably the strongest enemy we have, he's fast, and if you ask Yuffie she'll tell you he's a perverted psycho maniac. But, I think you can get the most information from Cloud."
"Why?" Truth be told, Riku had never even said more than five words to the blonde. Just going up to him and asking him about Sephiroth would feel awkward and stupid, and Riku had no idea what Cloud's feelings were toward Sephiroth.
"I don't know really…just that they have crossed paths before," Sora said, scratching his head in thought. Riku just shook his head.
"It's ok, I don't need to know that bad." Sora gave him a weird look. "Not that I don't like Cloud or anything," he quickly covered up, hoping that Sora wouldn't get the impression that he hated the blonde.
"Aww it's ok," Sora brushed it off. "I know you don't like blondes."
"Excuse me? I don't have any problems with blondes!"
"Whatever you say-ok I'm coming!" Sora yelled at Donald, who had been yelling obscenely at him for the last two minutes. "Stupid rabid duck…" Sora muttered angrily as he walked toward the ship, aiding the morose bird. Riku just watched, still feeling uncomfortable around Goofy and Donald. They too, seemed to show a bitter resentment of some sort toward him, and he could tell why. To them, he was still the back stabber, who had been perfectly willing to give into the darkness, even though it almost cost him his life and the lives of his friends. He accepted their judgment without question, knowing that they would just have to get used to him over time. Nothing he said could convince them that he wasn't going to turn on someone. Besides, he was too buried in self-loathing to bother much of paying attention to others contempt toward him, if there was any. He would just have to hope that they accepted him as he was.
~*~*~*~
A massive amount of shorts, tanks, and underclothes were thrown onto the floor, covering almost the entire hotel room floor. The clothes were quickly picked up and folded by thin hands, so that soon the room started to fill up with towers of folded clothing and accessories. The luggage that was to carry the clothes seemed to shrink by the minute as the number of clothes seemingly grew.
"Aerith!" Yuffie exclaimed with slight frustration as the girl took out yet another shopping bag, dumping its contents onto the floor and preceding to fold them too. "Where did you get all of these?"
"Stores," Aerith answered shortly. "I got bored and decided that you needed some clothes for the trip. I don't think you would want to be walking around Squall wearing the same clothes every day."
"I have clothes!" Yuffie said defensively, staring at a corner, which was covered shirts of many colors. Her eyes surveyed the room. "GAWD! How bored were you!?"
"Pretty bored."
"Well yeah you had to be 'cause people normally don't go shopping for their friends when their friends aren't even there!! How do you even know that this stuff fits me!"
"Oh Yuffie, stop complaining. We've gone shopping together before; I know you size," Aerith answered patiently, not even looking at the ninja.
"How do you know I haven't gotten bigger? I can feel my butt…I feel like I have a garbage can attached to it."
"You're just saying that because you got Squall to bring you brownies everyday. It's your fault if you got rounder."
"He did not bring me brownies everyday!" Yuffie said, sitting down next to Aerith on the carpeted floor. "If he did I would probably be happier than I am now."
"You look pretty happy to me."
"Don't contradict me."
Aerith handed Yuffie a pile of shorts, pointing to the luggage. Yuffie made a face but crawled over to it anyways, shoving the clothes in unceremoniously. Yuffie turned around to be met with a disapproving Aerith.
"What?" she asked, irritated. "It's my clothes, not yours. Like Squall will care if they're wrinkled."
"You know it saves more space if it's folded."
"I know."
Yuffie managed to stop nagging Aerith for about five minutes, occupying herself with watching a group of kids doing hopscotch out side the window below. Yuffie's mind drifted back, thinking about the last time she had played such games. It took several minutes contemplation that she never really had bothered to participate in the childish sport. When she was younger, she had always been with Squall, Cloud, and Aerith-training to become just like them.
Her eyes wandered back to Aerith, who was folding a pair of skirts. Yuffie bit back a retort, knowing that Aerith would probably just give up with her and leave her alone in the room to do the packing. 'I wish my hair was that long…' she thought, staring at Aerith's sweeping hair. Yuffie had begun to grow it out, but it still looked the same to her. Ever since she was a child, she had adored Aerith's hair. She loved that braid-thingy at the back, and how she always pulled it and made bell sounds when Aerith said something stupid or naïve. But then she would usually get whacked with that humongous staff of hers because of it.
"Yuffie are you going to stand there all day?" Aerith asked calmly, looking up at her with startling green eyes. "Because I really would appreciate you help."
"Oh….erm…ok," she agreed lamely. She collected each tower of garments and piled them into the luggage, and it took the combined weight of both Yuffie and Aerith to shut the lid.
Packing done, the two women sat comfortably on the ground, each holding a small can of juice. Yuffie slurped it up noisily, oblivious to Aerith's watchful eyes.
"Nervous?"
"What?" Yuffie asked, quite startled by her slight accusation. "No," she flustered, her fingers tightening on the drink. "Why would you think that?"
"I was only guessing," Aerith said offhandedly. She was staring at the contents of her own refreshment, swirling it around. "Since you are always nervous around Squall."
Yuffie didn't want to say anything. Her cheeks were burning a deep shade of garnet. Why was she so easy to read? If Aerith, who was practically oblivious to everything, noticed Yuffie's uneasiness, than Squall would be able to read her right off the bat.
"That obvious?" she said meekly. Aerith nodded vigorously, fiddling with her long strands of brown. Yuffie watched her enviously, fighting back the urge to fiddle with her own locks. "I used to have a crush on Cloud," Yuffie blurted before she could stop herself. Aerith just nodded again. Yuffie felt like some kind of forbidden door from her past had opened, and she had a sudden impulse to blab about it. "I hated Squall…he was always so mean and strict with me. That's why I liked Cloud. He was always nice…even though he was a bit dense…but I didn't mind." Yuffie stared at her hands, trying to remember more. The next thought came almost spontaneously.
"You liked Squall!" the ninja said louder than necessary, unable to keep the accusation out of her voice. Aerith looked up at her, obviously alarmed. "You told me you liked Squall…you said he was cute!" For some reason, Yuffie felt angry with Aerith. Yuffie remembered a lot of things about Aerith, and one of them was that every guy she knew liked her. They were all drawn to her kind, naïve, and fragile nature. That, as opposed to Yuffie's screaming, young, and uncontrollable presence, it was no wonder that they chose Aerith over her.
"Yes, I did like him…" Aerith trailed off. "But that was nine years ago Yuffie. I don't like him anymore. Besides, it was just a crush."
"You said he was cute!" Yuffie repeated, now staring at her, her eyes dancing with provoked embers. Aerith shook her head, looking at the younger girl.
"He is cute."
Yuffie wanted to slap her. Just slap her enough that she would get that thought out of her head. But what would that do? It would probably get Cloud to cut her in half, and Squall angry and disappointed with her-neither she wanted. But she desperately wanted to do something, anything. What was it to Aerith that Squall was cute? Who is the right mind called Squall cute anyways?
"Squall's not cute," Yuffie said derisively. A brief flashback of when she had told Sora that he was cute after talking about the Dalmatians proved that she was a two-faced liar. But Aerith was bound to not remember that. Or at least she prayed at she wouldn't.
"If Squall's not cute, why do you like him?"
"Don't change the subject!" Yuffie snapped, feeling extremely flustered. Aerith was too much like Squall-she too kept her calm even though everyone else-or in this case, Yuffie-was spazing out. The prospect that both had much in common upset the ninja far beyond words.
"All I said was that I thought he is cute, Yuffie," Aerith said dismissively. "It doesn't mean anything." Yuffie's eyes narrowed considerably as Aerith faltered a bit at the end.
"He's twenty five years old, Aerith. You don't call twenty five year olds 'cute'."
"That is your opinion."
Yuffie felt like she had been punched in the gut. Nothing could describe what she was feeling at the moment. What was Aerith getting at? Was she trying to say…that she still felt something for Squall?
"You have Cloud." The words came out with such anger and force that Yuffie half expected her to cry. Unfortunately, she looked completely impervious to Yuffie's jealousy.
"I didn't say I liked Squall," she answered calmly, standing up and throwing her can of juice into the garbage bin. It made a loud clanging sound, but to Yuffie it sounded completely hollow. "Stop being so judgmental. Besides, Squall isn't yours; it isn't you place to be so huffy about his personal life." With that said, the emerald eyed girl walked out of the room, leaving the ninja in a stream of angry tears.
~*~*~*~*~
The waterway seemed to have accumulated more dirt in a few days that it had ever had in years. The water was almost completely made of mud, and the rocks were caked with a greenish substance, god knows what. Save for two men, it was completely deserted.
"Squall," Cloud said, waving a hand in front of the man in question's face. Squall blinked and tiredly pushed the hand away from his face. He rubbed his eyes with one hand, using the other to support himself. Cloud watched him patiently, noting how exhausted the Gunblade wielder looked.
"You look like you're about to faint, ya know," Cloud pointed out, stroking a hand through his blond spikes. His red cape flowed out behind him majestically, his metal claw tapping against the grimy stone. (A/N:@#$%&*!! I still think it's unjust to Vincent that they mixed his looks with Cloud. Not that Cloud is ugly or anything, but that just tells us that Vincent's probably not going to ever be in the Kingdom Hearts saga. Dammit!)
"I'm not going to faint," Squall said stubbornly. Cloud rolled his eyes on instinct. Squall was a major butt hole when it came to admitting his weaknesses. Being friends after all those years had still taught him nothing.
"Whatever floats your boat," Cloud said with a grin. Now it was Squall's turn to roll his eyes.
"Did you get that from Yuffie?" Squall asked tepidly.
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"She always uses that with me when I'm being asinine." Cloud let out a hearty laugh, much to the disdain of the brunette.
"Well at least you acknowledge that you're an asshole," the former mercenary said consolingly. It did nothing to help Squall's morose mood. Both were silent for a while, sitting in what could be described as companionable. Finally, Cloud's low voice broke through the still air.
"Why did you agree to go along with Yuffie?"
"Because it's my fault she's dying," Squall answered automatically, having the reason practically ground into his mind.
"Not everything is your fault," Cloud said in a somewhat knowing voice. As if he'd gone through the same thing before.
"How would you know?"
"Hello, I sold my soul to Hades. I spent half my life looking for all of you. I've killed more people than I would've liked. You think I haven't been there before?"
Surprisingly, Squall didn't have an answer for this. Cloud sighed heavily, leaning back to lie on the ground. The smell of mold and mud assaulted his nostrils but he ignored it with controlled patience. His eyes traveled around the dingy waterway, resting on the huge glowing sun symbol that lay ahead of them. Cid told him it used to be a moon, but after Sora had taken out the gummi block hidden there, it had changed into the daytime light.
"Do you have any idea where it is?"
"No," Squall said tersely, pulling his leg up towards him and leaning on it for support. Cloud did the same, pulling up both legs and resting on them, his head lolling in his hands.
"So you're just going to travel around the universe, having no idea what you're looking for?"
"Yes."
"That…sucks," Cloud said, an absence for a better word. Squall nodded in silent agreement. He was staring at the waterways entrance, his eyes watching it keenly. Cloud turned his head too, as if expecting to see something pop up at any moment. But nothing came; the underground hideout was quiet, save for the dulcet whistling of the wind.
"What are you looking at?" the blonde asked, somewhat irritated. It bothered him that Squall always seemed to sense something minutes before Cloud caught on. It made him feel clumsy, which was really something, seeing as he was the mercenary, not Squall.
"Someone's coming."
Cloud opened his mouth to say that there was nobody there, when a loud splashing sound was heard. It was followed by loud mutterings.
"….How dare she say that….I just got out of the friggin hospital and she has to……argh…..hate her…."
Cloud and Squall exchanged furtive glances, watching as Yuffie came sloshing into view, covered from the waist down in brown muck. Squall noted that her eyes were red and puffy, as her face a tinted pink. Her clothes looked extremely disheveled, not to mention dirty. She threw herself down in between the two men, still fuming.
"Well aren't you going to ask me why I'm so angry?" she snarled. Then before they could answer, "Well you better not ask because I don't want to tell you!" Cloud and Squall stayed silent as shook with rage. "GAWD!" she yelled, following it with a myriad of obscene curses. Squall showed complete apathy, but Cloud stared at her with amazement, and slight amusement.
"What's going on?" Cloud asked to both of them. Squall ignored him and Yuffie's face turned from pink to red.
"I told you not to ask!" Yuffie quipped at him, her eyes burning. She wanted to cry again. She hadn't really expected them to be down here. She thought that she could just come to the waterway-alone- and cry her eyes out. And maybe break a few things.
Being there with them didn't help matters either. They were the source of her problems. They were always the source of her problems, one way or another.
"Aren't they always?" she muttered to herself.
"What?" Cloud, obviously having heard.
"Shut up," she snapped, digging the heel of her shoes into the rocks. She wished that they came with a mute button. Or a zipper that she could just zip up when they got too chatty. "Sorry," she said seconds later, startling Cloud. "I didn't expect either of you to be here."
"And what were you planning to do if we weren't?" Squall was gazing at her intently. Yuffie turned a deeper shade of red, if that was even remotely possible.
"N-nothing…" she stuttered out, his eyes making her go weak in the knees, so to speak. She had to bite her tongue to hold back screaming, 'Stop looking at me!' "Owww…" her tongue gave off the metallic taste of blood; she let go of it instantly, the taste bringing a great dislike within her.
No one said anything after that, much to Yuffie's discomfort. She sat there in stony silence, which was killing her. The two men seemed perfectly content with the loss of words, something that rivaled Yuffie's undeniable urge to become an unstoppable chatterbox. She tried in vain to find something to do until they decided to talk-play with her hair, stare uninterestedly at the walls, and see how long she can go without blinking…
The blinking tactic withstanding, she rode on the idea for a few minutes, but eventually gave up once her eyes stared to burn and water. She waited what had to be about fifteen minutes for them to say something until she couldn't take it anymore.
"OK!" said Yuffie in a defeated voice, as if they had been pestering her for the last one-fourth of an hour, instead of ignoring her. "Since you guys have been so accommodating and worrisome about my current state," she said with as much sarcasm as possible, "I'll tell you what's wrong, since you have been so eager to insist." Cloud had the typical face on, his mouth conveniently blocked by the red cape. Yuffie got caught in the moment and stared at him, forgetting that she was supposed to be telling them her problems. After all these years, she still thought that he had this child cuteness about him, even though it was perfectly hidden by his stoic demeanor. Her eyes traveled along his blonde spikes, wondering if Squall's and his felt the same…
Someone cleared his throat; Yuffie jumped, obviously startled, and looked at Squall. There was something in his eyes that she couldn't identify, some flicker of emotion that he'd never shown before. Yuffie clicked her tongue nervously and turned to look straight ahead, concentrating on her words.
"I got into a…fight with Aerith," she started, wringing her hands in her lap. "A big one," she added, wondering if they even cared. "I kinda accused her of something that probably wasn't true and I was just jumping to conclusions. She got…umm…ill tempered…"
"Ill-tempered?" Cloud interrupted. "She would n-" he quieted himself when Yuffie gave him a warning glare.
"Ok, she got kinda angry and she and I said some things that we probably shouldn't have." She conveniently left out that she had ended up crying because of her atypical standoffish nature. No one said anything, which gave her time to think. Maybe they expected she had more to say. Even now, reviewing what she had said, she realized that she sounded like a total wimpy baby. The ninja sighed, her livid mood long gone. Maybe they weren't investing their sympathy in her, but in Aerith. She always got into fights; Aerith on the other hand, seemed too delicate and gentle to engage in any battle.
'Ugh…I tried.' It was so typical of them that they both cared for Aerith. Everyone was so overprotective of her, as if she was incapable of protecting herself. Yuffie believed otherwise-why did she have that staff of hers if it was never even used? She had seen Aerith in battle before; she wasn't that weak. But of course, manly instinct probably drove them to protect the fairer.
Without saying a word, she sprang to her feet, sloshing back into the water. Cloud's voice stopped her angered movements.
"Where are you going?" he called at her. She just shook her head and violently said back.
"To think." They both watched her go.
"Wha?" Cloud asked, obviously annoyed. Squall had just gotten up, and was walking rather quickly up the stairs to Merlin's house. "Fine…everyone just leave me."
~*~*~*~*~
The sky was beautiful; Yuffie briefly wondered if the natives to Traverse Town even knew what sunlight looked like. Traverse Town had that kind of overall effect on a person. Whenever she traveled to somewhere else, she was almost always blinded by the oncoming stream of sunlight that Traverse Town so direly needed. But it eventually paid off, being up on the roofs, so close to the sky, made her imagine what it was like to fly. Sora, of course had been bestowed with that abnormal gift, something that she would give anything to have.
She reached her arm up, her fingers closing around the moon. "So close…yet so f-"
"Ever wonder what touching heaven is like?"
Yuffie screamed so loudly that she feared all the windows in the town would break. She clasped her hands over her mouth in obvious embarrassment, the people down below yelling at her for being so noisy. She spun around angrily, colliding right with Squall's firm chest. His wonderful scent assaulted her nostrils, and she stared at the ground, wishing anything that she could just melt into it.
"You're so loud," he murmured, gently pushing her away from him. He sat on the slightly slanted rooftop, waiting for her to do the same. Unfortunately, she was too overcome with shock that she just stood there dumbly, watching him.
"You followed me?" Squall glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She was standing there, her hands behind her back, doing god knows what.
"Obviously." Yuffie flushed, taking the time of his lack of words to compose herself and sit down next to him, keeping at least a foot between them. She would didn't need distractions at the moment-his body heat and scent both applied. That and yeah, she thought he was gorgeous. 'Gawd I am such an idiot…'
"Huh?" she said, feeling extremely small-brained. He had just asked her something and she hadn't even been paying attention! 'Oh Christ I probably sound like Goofy…he's probably laughing his mind off in….well his mind.'
"Are you ready to leave?" he repeated, watching her stare at him, as if she hadn't quite registered it yet.
"Umm…yeah…" She wanted to die. Could she not have one conversation with him that she could look back on without wanting to shoot herself? "My clothes…" she trailed off, her garments forcefully reminding her of Aerith.
Yuffie stole a glance at Squall's stoic face, his bangs obscuring his brilliant eyes. He had a prominent frown fixed upon his features, making him look older than he really was. As if to add to the look, his black over shirt slipped down his shoulder, making him look somewhat enticing, and maybe suggestive. 'Naughty Yuffie!' she reprimanded herself, tearing her eyes away from the man next to her.
"So what did you mean, ever wonder what touching heaven is like?"
"It's self explanatory."
Yuffie couldn't help it, she glared huffily at his side, which showed no acknowledgement of her annoyance. Why did he have to be so damn hard to talk to? He was a friggin clam from hell. Yuffie didn't find it hard to picture him dying a lonely, old man.
"So…what do you think it's like?" she said lightly, ignoring his last comment. That and she was trying to get that nasty thought of him dying alone out of her head.
"Cold and distant." 'Like you?!' How could he think of heaven like that? What was he, a hell spawn?
"Well I think it would be warm and fluffy," she said, contradicting his statement. "The atmosphere around you would be cold but when you touched it…your body would become warm and ardent and music would play that only you could hear…." She gazed at the sky as she said this, not noticing the intent gaze that Squall was transfixing upon her.
"That's-Yuffie look out." He said it with such calm that Yuffie didn't know whether to slap him or laugh. Either way, she realized too late that he was telling the truth. An apple that might as well be a grapefruit from the size of it flew into her, hitting her smack-dab in the nose. Squall made no moment, figuring that something like this would've happened anyway.
"Get off of the goddamn roof!" the thrower of the apple yelled from the balcony below them. The thrower was a man, with slicked back hair and arrogant coal black eyes. He had a whole basket of fruits in his arms, much to Yuffie's amusement, despite being hit by one.
"Nooooo," Yuffie spat at him in a singsong voice. Another fruit, a banana this time, came hurling at her, but this time she was ready. She grabbed it before it hit her, smacking the man between the eyes with it. And so it continued, the man and Yuffie throwing fruits back and forth to each other, with Squall watching impassively.
"What are you idiots doin,?" Cid's voice deemed through the whole of Traverse Town. Squall looked down below. Sora was there with his two friends, and by the looks of it, their ship was ready.
"Yuffie come on," Squall gripped her shoulder, narrowly missing a vine of grapes. When Yuffie paid no heed, he tightened his grip, until she let out a whimper.
"OK! Geez…oww stop that hurts…" with one last dirty look at the angry man, she followed Squall down the ladder, the man's peals of appreciation ringing behind them.
~*~*~*~
"Shiva?" asked Squall skeptically. Cid nodded enthusiastically.
"Great name isn't it? I considered Ragnarok, but thought that was too pathetic," Squall looked like he was about to say something, but closed his mouth with a resigned look. "So I named her Shiva. She has two sleepin' quarters, since Yuffie likes her privacy and all. There's enough room in the cabin fer four, but since there's only two of you, you'll have enough room to keep comfortable. Oh, and there's only one bathroom, but I'm sure that you guys can work around that."
Behind them, Yuffie was chasing around Riku, surprising enough. His comment on her lack of "cartons" as he so formally put it, got her into a waspish mood. Even more annoying, was that Riku was proving to be faster than he looked.
"Little snotrag stay still will ya!" she grunted as she took a swipe at his chest and missed by almost a foot. He hadn't said anything since his rude comment, staying away from the girl as much as possible. Frankly, he believed that he had found someone more enjoyable to aggravate than Sora.
Sora and Kairi watched a little off, glancing back and forth between the running teens, and the two conversing men.
"It's hard to believe that Riku and Yuffie are only a year apart," Kairi said thoughtfully, Riku having been sixteen for some time now.
"Not really," Sora responded, staring at them. "I think he's enjoying it," he added.
"How do you know?"
"Because, normally when he gets tired of teasing me he just stops and walks away or starts complaining. He hasn't said one word to her, and he doesn't look like he's going to walk away any time soon."
"Ugh…you're right."
"What if the engines run out?" Squall asked, looking at them. Cid nodded, a grin spreading across his face.
"Already thought of it. I packed 'bout two more sets of each gummi this thang is built of." He gave 'Shiva' a loving pat. Squall would've laughed, if he had any emotion to do so. "So are-YUFFIE!" he roared as she collided with the ships front, the tip jabbing her stomach roughly.
"What? Sorry Cid I-OWW GODDAMMIT YOU LITTLE FUCKER!" she screamed as Riku hit her in the butt with the Dream Sword's hilt. "PERVERT! GET YOUR SORRY ASS OVER HERE SO I CAN SHOVE MY SHURIKEN INTO YOUR SPINE! RIKU!"
(A/N: I'm too tired to write this, so just skip forward about ten minutes. Yuffie has managed to get revenge on Riku by kicking him in the groin and now she and Squall are inside the ship, ready to take off.)
Yuffie watched apathetically out the window, her eyes focused on Aerith. 'I'm so horrible,' she thought. 'I probably won't see her for months…I might even die and I didn't even have the courtesy to say a nice goodbye to her.'
"Yuffie stop leaning over the seat. You're going to fall out," Squall informed her, yanking her back. Dazed as she was, she numbly let him pull her, still staring at Aerith. How could she have let herself prevaricate so much? Was she just prevaricating for prevaricating sakes?
It really was her fault that the two of them were parting on such a bad note. She was just jealous of the paragon, the seraph that she could probably never be. She was a ninja for crying out loud, and Aerith held so much poise and composure over her, while she talked and ran around like a rummy. She hesitantly looked away from the window; Aerith's unremitting face was sending waves of remorse though her body.
Was she really telling the truth when she had said that Squall was cute? Or was she just jumping to conclusions too quickly? Maybe she did like Squall and she was just using Cloud to slowly get to Squall…or maybe she didn't like him and she was in love with Cloud like she should be…or maybe she was Yuri and she liked Yuffie…
"AGH!" Yuffie yelled, slapping and pinching her cheeks. The people outside the ship watched her masochist act, wondering if it was a side effect of her disease.
Squall was too pensive to notice Yuffie's attacks on her face. He really had no idea if he would be able to withstand her zealous nature without losing his sanity in the process. Albeit, Yuffie had always been quick to remind him that he probably was already psycho. He had always succeeded in evading her gung-ho, but now he couldn't hide. She didn't have any one else, and if she saw that he had disappeared while they were on one of the worlds, she'd no doubt alert everyone in the vicinity until she had the whole planet looking for him. Either that or she'd totally freak out and faint or do something else dangerous to speed up the disease.
It was odd thinking of Yuffie dying. It never really occurred to her that he might actually see her die. He had always expected it to be the other way around. It was obvious that this state she was in was maiming her life and almost all of her happiness. If they didn't find a cure for her disease, then it would be all over for her. If only Ansem still lived…
"Squallie, can you please just take off already?" Yuffie said with slight trepidation. Squall gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head, gripping the sides of the seat so hard he feared they would rip. She was slowly falling short of the façade that she had put up, making everyone believe that the disease didn't bother her in the least. But he could see it now, she was scared out of her wits. It was if she only realized just then that she might not live for very much longer.
"Stop shaking," he said as gently as his damn pride would allow him.
"I'm not s-shaking," she growled, but still grabbed her quivering shoulders in a vain effort to hide them.
Squall said no more; he already had Shiva hovering seven feet in the air. Realizing this too, Yuffie pressed her face as hard as she was able against the cool window, waving as enthusiastically as she could through the nebulous smoke the rockets emitted. She stopped once she realized it was no use trying to get them to see her, they were almost enshrouded in the gray cloud now. She turned her interests to the console, watching as the array of buttons and switches lit up. The ship thrummed softly beneath their feet, humming in an allegretto fashion. The ship gave a jolt, and Yuffie looked through the window once more, the figures of her friends shrinking to ants, the lit buildings looking like tiny Christmas lights from above. With one last glance at the World gate, she sank back into her velvety seat, a lone tear running down her cheek. Only this time, it was not followed by it's brethren-she would cry no more.
A/N: That was a corny ending. I want to shoot myself for taking so long to update this. Like I said, I believe I was born with a writer's block. That and I believe I am a shitty writer. Oh yeah…I'm bored so I'll leave you to figure this out. HOW OLD AM I? Just take a guess…I am so incredibly bored…